Black Storm by Mark Gillespie

It’s the end of the world in Black Storm, or so it seems. The sun is perpetually obscured by a mysterious darkness, and as a result, crops begin to fail. Natural catastrophes begin to take place one after another, while people are increasingly taking their own lives as hope seems to be gone. A mysterious woman, known as the Black Widow, start showing up here and there, her arrival often heralding the arrival some ill omen. But if Cody MacLeod had his way, he and his daughter Rachel would find a way to be safe. He will make sure of it. And right now, despite both of them having seen the Black Widow a few times, he is determined to bring the two of them to the San Antonio International Airport, where his friend has a plane waiting for them.

This story is near perfect. The author explains just enough to give the setting of the story enough substance for me to visualize the whole thing, but not too much. The latter creates a chilling sense of foreboding terror as Cody and Rachel seem to be racing against time. What is happening? Will the darkness take them all? Will they…

Oh, Cody decides to pick up a woman standing by the road. If you have read or watched any apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic story (zombies optional), you will know what is coming, and indeed, when it does come, I groan because in one fell swoop, the author has completely sabotaged the story. Black Storm goes from being a gripping tale of suspense and fear to just another story using a played-out plot development that doesn’t add anything. Instead, it disrupts the feverish momentum building up up to… to… a deleted sequence from one of those Telltale The Walking Dead games or something.

Things become somewhat better once that boring part of the story is over and done with, but it never gets back the solid, gripping, fantastic atmosphere and pacing of the early parts of the story. Still, it ends on what I feel is the perfect note. I really like this one, and I would have happily thrown in an extra oogie were not for that self-inflicted derailment of the story.